flooring: laminate or hardwood?

My son installs wooden flooring, & he’s had to replace the laminate the wood in some

There are some laminates that look real nice though, but they are the real high priced ones.

-- ** Dick, & Barb Cain *************** http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Chipncut

Hi Ms Debbie;

I have both in my house. My wife seems to have trouble deciding what she likes.

In our kitchen, I had to tear out the NEW ceramic tile floor, since it was cold, and hard on the feet. I tried to get away with just covering it with Linoleum. NO such luck. So, the third floor we tried was a good quality laminate. It’s been there for about 15 years now, and still looks good.

We used to have carpet pretty much everywhere else in the house, but since we were breeding boxers, (the dogs, not the fighters), the carpet wasn’t very practical.

So in our living room, dining room we pulled up the carpet and installed the same laminate we had in the kitchen. It looks nice, but the noise level in the house jumped dramatically. It’s been about 10 years since we did that, and it still looks pretty good. (far better than carpet would over the same time span).

A few years later I installed hardwood in the bedrooms, at my wifes request. It seems to absorb noise better than the laminate.

Now, with grandkids running around, I would rather have the carpet back! I have to go out to the woodshop to get any peace and quiet.

Lee

-- http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Debbie: The house I bought in Delaware had Pergo laminate in the kitchen.

All the seams were raised up in fron of the refrigerator. I’m assuming water caused it to swell.

After we bought it and before we moved in a water line broke (froze) and every seam on the pergo raised up. So I’m not in favor of that material.

-- Retired in Delaware

I was wondering about the effects of temperature.
The room gets really hot in the summer and really “chilly” in the winter.

I had heard about the laminate separating but because the bedroom doesn’t have heavy traffic I thought maybe it would be “ok”.

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada

Hardwood all the way! Wood has thermal mass and insulative properties. It would help to regulate the temps in those rooms to some degree. Of course it depends on your budget. I suspect hardwood is dearer than lamimate. Hardwood is also ‘renewable’. When it begins to wear, it can be sanded many times. Most laminates have some form of formaldehyde glues in them and energy intensive mdf ( I realize some may have plywood cores) and thin laminates, some of which are plastic.

We’re like Lee, we prefer carpet because of the warmth, which is a great factor in our climate, when you step out of bed, especially in the winter, you don’t freeze your tootsies, plus the quietness.

When we visited our sons house which was all hardwood in the living areas, the clopping noise of the kids running around gets kind of nerve racking

-- ** Dick, & Barb Cain *************** http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Chipncut

thanks everyone for your feedback.
Our little bedroom won’t be an issue re: sound and I currently have a carpet tossed over the plywood flooring. I’m having an issue re: dust and sleeping so removing the carpet is one step towards a good night’s sleep.

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada

also – a realy good pont to consider re: flooring in the rest of my house, especially since there is a new grandbaby coming along

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada

Given the modern coatings on engineered hardwoods, I don’t see any advantages to laminates over engineered woods, and I’d definitely give the aesthetics to the wood. Unless the lighting’s pretty bad, Pergo doesn’t do much for me.

But even with engineered woods I’m hearing more and more that they’re no more moisture resistant than actual hardwood. We’ve been talking about using one of the engineered wood for our bathroom and kitchen, and as we talk to people with all the options are coming back to just laying the real stuff. Yeah, we’ve got to be a bit more careful about standing water than with tile, but it’s way easier to clean than linoleum and softer than tile, so it’s not automatic that dropped stuff will shatter.

I definitely prefer hardwoods to carpets, for the dust control and longevity, but I also live in a moderate climate.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/

Lots of good points here…I sell flooring in Myrtle Beach, SC and find there are a few primary concerns with laminate…

1. The sound…underfoot, laminate has a hollow sound to it, that can bother some home owners.
2. Laminate flooring doesn’t dress up a real estate listing the way that “hardwood floors” does. For the reasonably small cost difference, you can gain a lot of home value.

I would lean towards an engineered hardwood.

Also, do some research before you rule out carpet…there are some schools of thought that actually say that carpet is better for those with dust allergies as the dust is trapped in the carpet rather than sitting on the floor surface:

“Professional Testing Labs studied the distribution of airborne dust associated with normal activities on hard and soft flooring surfaces. Their findings showed that walking on hard surfaces disturbed more particles. These particles became airborne and entered the breathing zone. In contrast, carpeted surfaces trapped more particles so that walking disturbed fewer particles. Result: less dust in the breathing zone over carpeted floors.”

-- Michael, http://myrtlebeach.floorcoveringsinternational.com

hmm good points.

thanks Michael.

(Haven’t made a decision yet …. going to wait a bit to do this, now)

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada

Thank you Michael!

And Barb has all of the major allergies.

This is our kitchen.

-- ** Dick, & Barb Cain *************** http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Chipncut

I have both and prefer hardwood. The hardwood does absorb the sound much better. It can be sanded and refinished if needed . I also have pre-finished hardwood that I love, check out my project dad’s room and you can see it. If I had the choice between laminate and engineered, I would go with engineered because it’s more like hardwood in that it too can be refinished.

-- Bob K. East Northport, NY

more good points! thank you

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada

Nothing beats hardwood, in my opinion. In our house, three years back, we did the entire main floor with Bruce 3/4” Oak Marsh which was on sale at the big box store for under $3 per square foot.

The killer is the installation. We worked like dogs for several days to complete the job. It was over 800 square feet and encompassed a kitchen and a hallway that rejoined the main field. That required some custom ripping to get it to match seamlessly. A number of the boards were bowed and that required quite a bit of extra work to sort out. I also made my own custom thresholds. Installation was nail-down. We started with a rented flooring nailer, but since the installation took longer than we expected, much of it was completed with my finish nailer. To date, there have been no issues with the installation.

The result, however, was stunning. We’re getting ready to install the same flooring in the master bedroom. The boxes of flooring have been acclimating for a few weeks now. All that’s needed is the time and the will.

-- Duck tape is the new black

then our small room should be pretty easy to do… “in theory”

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada

Why not go with hardwood? They are very durable and require little maintenance. They are also flexible when it comes to design options. http://www.phsservices.com

thanks!
We haven’t done anything withe the floor yet—other priorities popped up. I’ll keep this in mind for the future.

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada

I have seen both and I like the engineered wood the best. My daughter has the floating laminate and she thinks it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. She and her husband moved into the home with 4 preschool children ages 1-5 and they have a Fox Terrier. This stuff has been durable and they have had a multitude of liquid spills. I think it has outperformed any finished wood. She has done nothing special except mop with water and you are not supposed to do that. Their laminate is in the kitchen dining area. I don’t think wood could have taken the abuse this family has given the laminate. I don’t think your bedroom will ever come close to what they have given this floor so wood will not be the problem it could have been for them. I was concerned for them when I saw this in the kitchen but they have had dishwasher problems and other leaks and it has just kept on going. It has really been durable. I have heard horror stories about spills but I have decided they might not exist as often as the story.

We have all carpet for the warmth & our cold winters have, also the quietness, because it absorbs noises.

-- ** Dick, & Barb Cain *************** http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Chipncut

very true. .. it IS much warmer on the feet.

(Hi Dick & Barb .. nice to hear from you!)

-- ~ Debbie, Ontario Canada